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'State in 60 Seconds' Video -- Diplomacy Lab

During today’s town hall with college students and congressional interns, Secretary Kerry announced Diplomacy Lab, a new program that will help the U.S. State Department partner with America’s best universities to solve the world’s toughest challenges.

Diplomacy Lab grew out of our conversations with university leaders who told us that today’s students want to do more than write papers for the sake of writing papers. And professors want research to do more than shape academic debate. At the same time, we recognized that we have a challenge at the State Department: our “to do” list is getting bigger and bigger, but our budget is not. And, particularly when it comes to research and innovation, the challenges we face can’t be solved by diplomats alone. Diplomacy Lab is helping to address these issues and enable students and faculty from across the country to contribute to the work of the State Department.

Last semester, my team and I started working to “course-source” research and innovation projects from offices across the State Department to faculty-led teams at U.S. universities. After a semester of hard work and consultation with the State Department, the students and faculty involved in these teams produced some great results:

And students at Florida International University are helping us combat violence in prisons around the world.

This is just the beginning and the possibilities are extraordinary. America’s universities are the envy of every country on this planet -- we’re excited to leverage the creativity, ideas, and commitment of students and faculty across the country as we work to address the challenges confronting our world today.

About the Author: Dr. Tomicah Tillemann serves as the Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies. Follow Dr. Tillemann on Twitter at @TomicahTD.

Comments

Comments

R B.

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Ohio, USA

March 18, 2014

I believe such programs need to better use the sage of some of the millions of our overseas Americans (who often have a better sense of their bailiwicks than most DOS types or home team academics I've run across, no matter how well-informed or bright). / Second,the Diplomacy Lab "to do" list might also include university community service and focus, not just on external foreign policies, but on procedures and impediments more traditionally INTERNAL to DOS, such as wasteful snafus, delays, isolation from their public, and organizational miscommunication-- in some of its regional passport offices,for example. Thank you.

Concerned C.

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New York, USA

March 24, 2014

Quote from your article, and our comment(s) "The Office of Global Criminal Justice, headed by Ambassador-at-Large Stephen J. Rapp with Deputy Jane E. Stromseth, advises the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In particular, the office helps formulate U.S. policy on the prevention of, responses to, and accountability for mass atrocities. To this end, the office advises U.S. Government and foreign governments on the appropriate use of a wide range of transitional justice mechanisms, including truth and reconciliation commissions, lustrations, and reparations in addition to judicial processes."
Our Comments: It appears that there are no appropriately used wide range transitional justice mechanisms, including TRUTH and RECONCILIATION commisions...in addition to judicial processes at present, and presently in effect to turn the tide of the current practices of depraved indiference to, and unjustifiable deadly destruction of in-utero human life. The U.S. Constitution Protections of Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit Of Happiness for fifty million future American Citizens of this wonderful country, which appears to be so dedicated to fostering the respect of human rights causes, have been harshly disregarded and rendered null and void, and their premature lives in-utero deliberately terminated via legalized abortion, simply because of said future Citizens state of "pre-birth" situational status, i.e. unwanted, unneccesary, not a part of anything/anyone, and not required...50 million people have died by means of the uncivilized, primitive, and butcherous genocidal practice of abortion, primarily because of other peoples' selfish beliefs...Try to justify that with domestic and global awareness practices of justice...

Concerned C.

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New York, USA

March 24, 2014

Quote from your article, and our comment(s) "The Office of Global Criminal Justice, headed by Ambassador-at-Large Stephen J. Rapp with Deputy Jane E. Stromseth, advises the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In particular, the office helps formulate U.S. policy on the prevention of, responses to, and accountability for mass atrocities. To this end, the office advises U.S. Government and foreign governments on the appropriate use of a wide range of transitional justice mechanisms, including truth and reconciliation commissions, lustrations, and reparations in addition to judicial processes."
Our Comments: It appears that there are no appropriately used wide range transitional justice mechanisms, including TRUTH and RECONCILIATION commisions...in addition to judicial processes at present, and presently in effect to turn the tide of the current practices of depraved indiference to, and unjustifiable deadly destruction of in-utero human life. The U.S. Constitution Protections of Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit Of Happiness for fifty million future American Citizens of this wonderful country, which appears to be so dedicated to fostering the respect of human rights causes, have been harshly disregarded and rendered null and void, and their premature lives in-utero deliberately terminated via legalized abortion, simply because of said future Citizens state of "pre-birth" situational status, i.e. unwanted, unneccesary, not a part of anything/anyone, and not required...50 million people have died by means of the uncivilized, primitive, and butcherous genocidal practice of abortion, primarily because of other peoples' selfish beliefs...Try to justify that with domestic and global awareness practices of justice...